Politickin' With John Brown: A History Of Inflammatory UN Speeches

Our political expert takes a look back at the most anger-filled speeches given before the United Nations.

Not Available Lead
Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

Not Available Lead


Visit John Brown's new website and check back each Thursday for a new "Politickin With John Brown" post.

Anytime you convene the bosses of the world's nations, there's gonna be sparks. Whether it was Yasser Arafat supposedly bringing a gun to his debut speech or Slobodan Milosevic referring to the UN Court as a "retarded child", it's been a hotbed for hotheads. Clearly the UN has considerable flaws and at times has dropped the ball when it needed to stop genocide or prevent unnecessary wars. But at the end of the day, it's probably safer to have a body where leaders can try to verbally air out their differences rather than see each other on the battlefield.

However, let's face it: the UN tends to favor Western nations and its allies. I'm not going to get into the specifics, but it's not coincidental that when certain world leaders give inflammatory speeches, they tend to be from countries that the West deems suspicious. Alas, a look back...

1. Muammar Al-Qadhafi, 2009
Qadhafi is an interesting one. Yesterday, he made his first U.N. appearance after 40 years in power and delivered a lengthy speech that simultaneously patronized President Obama as his "son", while condemning the war in Iraq. But he didn't stop there. Libya's nuclear-powered head of state referred to the committee as the "terror council", called for the investigation of all the wars that have occurred on the U.N.'s watch, and suggested that the swine flu was a governmental creation. And FOX News' summary: he loves Obama!

CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT JOHN BROWN'S NEW WEBSITE!!
• CLICK HERE FOR MORE "POLITICKIN' WITH JOHN BROWN" POSTS

Latest in Pop Culture